Denmark, land of the Olympians - sorta

Well, two of them, up until now!

For nigh on a fortnight I have been scanning the results, desperate for a medal. My anxious moments were met with lots of “Don’t worry, we’re a very small country.” Small?? There’s 5,475,791 and with NQDII and I, plus two.

We have to win something! I mean, I come from a country that would rather see children starve than not have a decent medal tally.

What about the shooter? He seemed confident. “No. He missed 5 out of 20 shots”. Hmm. What about Caroline Wazniacki (ancient Danish name??). “Hmmaybe…”



Nope. In the end the first medal went to the dressage girls, one of whom happened to be Princess Nathalie zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, the Queen’s niece. (What was it about that dual citizenship rule?)

Let’s face it, if you had a surname like that and had to pronounce it everyday you could certainly hold your breath and stay saddled on a horse for ten minutes. Thankfully, she did and Denmark got its first medal.

A bronze.

Finally, my adopted homeland was right up there and equal with Togo and Takijistan – two countries I’ve admired for one reason or another for many years…

And then, Lotte Friis surprised the world (no joke) by winning the 800m freestyle

And then!!!

Yay!

Thomas Ebert Moreten Jørgensen, Mads Christian Kruse Andersen (who cares if he has four name’s, I just hope he doesn’t marry Nathalie zu SWB and have children) and Eskild Balschmidt Ebbesen won the lightweigh coxless four!!